Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

On my second rewatch I upped this film half a star. It's genuinely pretty entertaining, and I think the first time that I saw it, I wasn't quite expecting such a "commercial" film. I think I was right on the tail end of finishing Venus in Fur in fact, so I was looking for something more... art-house. At any rate, this film is highly entertaining, a slow burning thriller, the type that Polanski is so damn good at. As always, beautiful, beautiful sets, lighting, and camera work. I have no idea why people say that Depp was miscast, I thought he was fantastic.

I'm a huge Roman Polanski fan and not necessarily of his most famous works. Frantic and The Ghost Writer are among my all-time favorites. This film does not have the story and intrigue of those films, but it is interesting as a mystery. The ending is pretty dumb and unsatisfying; however, the journey there is satisfying and enjoyable. Worth a watch. I rate it a 7 out of 10.

Continuing my plan to watch every Johnny Depp movie in order, I come to The Ninth Gate.When this was announced I was disgusted Depp would work with Roman Polanski. I decided to still see it in cinemas, as I did everything Depp made back then. I think my disgust may have clouded my judgement as I hated it. And like Fear & Loathing, I have never revisited it, despite the DVD sitting in my collection for over a decade. Depp is once again solid, but this movie is not two of his better hours. Frank Langella normally brightens up any movie just by having his name in the cast. But here he is in pantomime villain mode!! He even shouts "Boo" at one point!! Depp's Donnie Brasco costar James Russo has a role as Depp's trusted friend Bernie. Who says his loyalty is 100%, unless there is money, women or work involved.I found the score too quirky at times, the CGI poor and I'm still not sure what happened at the end, or why?? It's certainly not clear!!The Ninth Gate grossed $18 million dollars at the domestic box office, not landing a spot on the highest 100 grossing movies of the year.Depp met Vanessa Paradis whilst filming this movie in France, he promptly fell in love with her and moved to France. There was no more arrests, no more trashed hotel rooms and outside of one incident early in their relationship, there were no more fights with paparazzi either. The next 5 years would be the most stable period of Depp's adult life.

Johnny Depp plays a book specialist, Dean Corso, who's hired to by Frank Langella's Boris Balkan to authenticate an occult books called the Ninth Gate. With one of only three remaining copies of this book to hand, the others being destroyed over time by the Church and religious fanatics, he travels to Portugal and France to compare the book against the other two surviving copies. He comes to the conclusion that all three remaining copies share a secret but before he can investigate fully he's thrust into an adventure he isn't ready for which exposes him to a dark underworld he wasn't aware of. Not everything is as it seems, and not everyone is who they suggest they are.This is an underrated and brilliantly intelligent film which shows that you don't need glitzy special effects to make a film which audiences will enjoy. A good story and some suspense with occasional mystery will trump Hollywood CGI any day (although I have to admit that there is some elements of CGI in the film but for the most part it's low key and not too obvious). This film probably isn't for the fast-food film fans of today, it's not an action film and if you have a brain you can see lots of layers to the film - unlike modern films which are 'what you see is what you get'. Directed by Roman Polanski and primarily filmed in central Europe (due to being wanted for crimes in America) the audience is kept on tenterhooks as it follows Depp's character on his journey of discovery and danger. The film is based on the book "El Club Dumas" by Arturo Pérez-Reverte which looks at secret satanic societies attempts to meet with the Devil himself (or herself). I'd lump this film in with other supernatural/occult films, the likes of "End of Days" (although there is a lot less action), "Stigmata" (but slower in pace), "Don't look now" (without the threat of a serial killer), "The Wicker Man" (without the orgies). It feels like an updated version of late 70's and early 80's supernatural/ occult films, maybe even some of the later Hammer House films which dealt with the Devil rather than monsters in the night. The audience learns information at the same time as Corso does so although it isn't a fast paced spectacle it is engaging, more in line with classic mystery films unlike modern ones where audiences have advanced knowledge of events, this is film 'school' not film 'kindergarten' after all. There is a lot more to this film than what you see on screen, it's like an onion with various layers of content, but some of it is a little too clever for modern audiences (sorry but it's true, especially when I read some of the reviews here which missed the point). I'm loving some of the reviews and theories found here and it's warming to see that despite the idiots who didn't get this there are some people who really did get a grasp of it, bravo to you. I enjoyed this and I'd happily watch it again. I'm giving this a 8 out of 10.